Growing nuclear momentum in New Jersey
Enthusiasm is continuing to trend upward in New Jersey this week as industry and government have rallied over the idea of new nuclear capacity in the state.
Holtec executives spoke at a state legislative meeting on siting small modular reactors at the Oyster Creek nuclear plant site. Also present was the state’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU) president, who talked about addressing high energy costs through SMRs. Elsewhere, U.S. Rep. and leading gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill talked on the campaign trail about the potential for new nuclear.
Sherrill’s comments: During an August 20 event focused on high energy costs in the state, Sherrill laid out her plans for lowering ratepayer burden. After declaring a “state of emergency on utility costs,” Sherril said she would immediately freeze rate hikes for a year and invest in new energy projects.
Those projects include new solar and battery storage alongside “expediting capacity upgrades at our existing nuclear plants and streamlining the modernization of existing natural gas facilities to make them cleaner and more efficient."
She also promised to eliminate permitting delays and order her attorney general “to take on” both PJM and President Trump in the courts and “force them to end their mismanagement and get new power added to the grid.”
Finally, Sherrill detailed her plans for the development of new nuclear projects. “I’m going to immediately develop plans for new nuclear capacity in Salem County. We already have a preapproved site permit.” She also promised to “sit down with neighboring states so that we can act together to drive down the cost of building new nuclear plants.”
In response, Republican opponent Jack Ciattarelli released an announcement blaming Democrats for high energy cost and said that he planned to ban offshore wind development and invest in natural gas and nuclear.
Senate testimony: Last week during a joint meeting of the state’s Senate Environment and Energy Committee and the Assembly Environment Committee, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities president Christine Guhl-Sadovy pointed to high, data center–driven demand as the primary cause of the state’s skyrocketing energy costs.
Among other plans, she said that the BPU is looking to nuclear to meet some of that demand, likely in the form of SMRs. When asked if she would like to see the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant reopened, Guhl-Savoy said, “We need more nuclear generation; Oyster Creek is too far along in its decommissioning process to reopen it, but I do think 100 percent we need more nuclear generation.
In response, state Sen. Carmen Amato (R., 9th Dist.) assured that “Lacey Township officials would be welcoming of additional energy facilities,” reminding meeting attendees that the town “already has the distribution system in place.”
Amato then passed the discussion to the current site owner, Holtec International, which was represented at the meeting by CEO Kris Singh and president Kelly Trice. Singh said, “We need to develop nuclear power in the state, nuclear power that will be all manufactured right here in the state. The designs were developed in this state.”
Trice, speaking more specifically, brought up the company’s success at Palisades and pointed out its similarities with Oyster Creek, suggesting that Holtec's work in Michigan could be a template for a new project in New Jersey.